Kierkegaard and the Changelessness of God: A Modern Defense of Classical Immutability (New Explorations in Theology | NET)
Digital Verbum Edition
Overview
Danish theologian and philosopher Søren Kierkegaard was not afraid to express his opinions. Living amid what he perceived to be a culturally lukewarm Christianity, he was often critical of his contemporary church.
But that does not mean Kierkegaard rejected traditional Christian theology. Indeed, at a time when many of his contemporaries were questioning the classical doctrine of God, Kierkegaard swam against the stream by maintaining orthodox Christian beliefs.
In this volume in IVP Academic’s New Explorations in Theology series, Craig A. Hefner explores Kierkegaard’s reading of Scripture and his theology to argue not only that the great Dane was a modern defender of the doctrine of divine immutability (or God’s changelessness) in response to the disintegration of the self, but that his theology can be a surprising resource today.
Even as the church continues to be beset by “shifting shadows” (James 1:17), Kierkegaard can remind us of the good and perfect gifts that come from an unchanging God.
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- Explores Kierkegaard’s reading of Scripture
- Examines the doctrine of divine immutability
- Argues that Kierkegaard offers a way of engaging God’s immutability without relying on either metaphysical or antimetaphysical logic
- Retrieving Kierkegaard
- The Disintegrated Self
- The Reintegrated Self
- Returning Again to James 1:17
- Immutability Without Metaphysics
Craig Hefner shows a mastery of Kierkegaard’s writings and Kierkegaardian scholarship. To this literature, he brings a biblically informed speculative engagement with one of the most important debates of our time, namely the debate over divine immutability. Addressing Barthians and Thomists, Hefner argues that Kierkegaard offers a way of engaging God’s immutability without relying on either metaphysical or antimetaphysical logic. At stake is the possibility of reintegrating the fragmented self and grounding the meaningfulness of history. This is an important book!
—Matthew Levering, James N. Jr. and Mary D. Perry Chair of Theology at Mundelein Seminary
Rarely, in contemporary discourse, is the immutability of God wielded for spiritual insights, but this is precisely what Hefner discovers in the work of Søren Kierkegaard. Mining the depths of Kierkegaard’s thought to retrieve his existentially profound insights, Hefner shows how Kierkegaard’s understanding of immutability serves as the ground for the integration of the human self. Far from an abstract notion, immutability serves as the guiding light breaking through the present darkness of our despair. A significant and profound study, I highly recommend it!
—Kyle Strobel, associate professor of spiritual theology at Talbot School of Theology